Approved classification list and no suppression of facts barred extended limitation for duty recovery and penalty.

An approved classification list, accepted by the department after disclosure of the products, did not by itself amount to misrepresentation or suppression of facts. Even if the declaration was wrong, the absence of proved suppression meant the extended limitation period for recovery could not be invoked. The duty demand was therefore time-barred, and the associated penalty could not survive.

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Issues: Whether the demand of duty and penalty could be sustained when the classification list had been approved and no misrepresentation or suppression of facts was established, thereby making the demand barred by limitation.

Analysis: The approved classification list was filed after disclosure of the products and the Assistant Collector had accepted the classification on examination. On these facts, the declaration made by the assessee may have been wrong, but it did not amount to misrepresentation. Since the charge of suppression was not established, the extended limitation for recovery could not be invoked.

Conclusion: The demand was barred by limitation and the duty demand and penalty could not survive.

Ratio Decidendi: A wrong declaration in a classification list, when accepted after departmental scrutiny, does not by itself constitute misrepresentation or suppression of facts so as to extend limitation for recovery.

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